Scare Up Some Fun

Be the ghostess with the mostess this Halloween, and throw a wickedly wonderful celebration. The entertaining experts from the Wilton Test Kitchen know all the tricks and offer plenty of treats for hosting a bone-chilling blast that will have friends and family shrieking with delight.

Start by scaring up some fun with an array of graveyard goodies. Tombstone and monster-shaped sandwich cookies paired with ghostly graveyard cookies set an eerie scene. Add fang-tastic monster-faced popcorn balls, and a parade of monster pretzels - a breeze to make using a Halloween Candy Kit. Pour melted candy into monster molds, insert pretzel rods and refrigerate until set. They are the perfect hand-held treats for kids and look great on display.

There’s no bones about it, a spooktacular skeleton cake will make for a boo-tiful Halloween centerpiece. Using a skeleton casket pan makes this impressive dessert - filled with fall flavors like cinnamon and apples - easy to achieve. Simply decorate with icing and watch as your skeleton comes back from the grave.

For added fright, surround the coffin with Spooky Pop Cupcakes - swirled with brightly-colored icing and things that go bump in the night. Just be sure to pair sweets with a be”witch”ing beverage and you’ll be caught in a web of friends all evening long.

All of these and other terrifyingly-terrific project ideas, supplies and more are available at www.wilton.com.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla; mix well. Alternately add flour mixture and applesauce to butter mixture. Spread about half of cake batter so that it reaches the first horizontal line inside the pan. Sprinkle diced apples evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter, smoothing out the top.

Bake 58 to 62 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on cooling grid.

Meanwhile, tint portions of icing green and orange. To assemble cookies, spread icing on half of the cookies; sandwich with second cookie. Pipe details with icing.

Ghostly Graveyard Cookies

Each cookie serves 1

Roll-out cookie dough

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1-1/2 (half) cups granulated sugar

1 egg

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon no-color almond extract

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In large mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add in egg, vanilla and almond extracts, combine.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt and then add one cup at a time to butter mixture, mixing after each addition.

Do not chill dough.

Divide dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle about 12 inches with and 1/8-inch thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use.

Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet on top rack of oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Recipe may be doubled.

Buttercream Icing

Makes about 3 cups

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon clear vanilla

4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (about 1 pound)

2 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored two weeks, but should be rewhipped before use.

Leaf green, black and brown Icing Colors (Wilton)

Prepare and roll out cookie dough following recipe instructions. Cut cookies using the Graveyard Cookie Cutter Set. Bake and cool.

Using icing colors, tint buttercream. Ice all cookies using a spatula. Pipe the outline of the tree with Wilton tip #22 brown buttercream icing. Tint coconut flakes green using icing color; sprinkle over base cookie. Attach all cookies to base cookies with icing.